ANKARA: Turkey’s PM Dismisses Nuclear Claims On Iran As Rumour

TURKEY’S PM DISMISSES NUCLEAR CLAIMS ON IRAN AS RUMOUR

March 17 2010
Turkey

Erdogan said it was not right to manipulate the issue as if "Iran
desired to possess nuclear weapons".

Turkey’s prime minister said Tuesday there was no definite report
showing that Iran would acquire nuclear weapons.

In an interview with British broadcaster BBC’s Nik Gowing, Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Iran had consistently stated
that it was seeking to use nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

Erdogan said it was not right to manipulate the issue as if "Iran
desired to possess nuclear weapons".

Noting he had personally warned Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad
several times and told him that Turkey did not want any nuclear weapons
in its region, Erdogan said the Iranian leader said that his country
did not have an intention to produce nuclear weapons.

Upon a question on whether he believed Ahmedinejad, Erdogan said
neither the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nor intelligence
organizations had certain reports on such matter.

"These are all rumours. Because, nothing like that has happened. So,
it is meaningless to discuss it," he said.

In his reply to a question on whether Turkey’s EU membership process
lost velocity, Erdogan said the process did not slow down.

Expressing Turkey’s determination for the opening of the remaining
chapters in its EU process, Erdogan said, "Turkey will continue to
walk towards EU in a determined way as long as the union does not
close its doors to Turkey".

Commenting on whether a U.S. congressional committee’s recent adoption
of a resolution on 1915 incidents would harm Turkish-U.S. relations,
Erdogan said he still believed and confided in USA.

Noting that such development would not do harm relations between
the two countries, Erdogan said ties between Turkey and USA were not
connected to relations with Armenia.

www.worldbulletin.net

Vladimir Akopian To Fight For Champion Title At European Champs

VLADIMIR AKOPIAN TO FIGHT FOR CHAMPION TITLE AT EUROPEAN CHAMPS

Aysor
March 17 2010
Armenia

In round ten of the European individual men&women’s chess championship
in Croatia’s Rijeka, Armenia’s Vladimir Akopian played in draw with
Sokolov and again seeded 8th, half a point behind tournament’s leader,
having all chances to win the champion title.

Arman Pashikian, Robert Hovhannisian, and Avetik Grigorian improved
their positions.

Lilit Galoyan lost to Marie Sebag; earning 6 points she is just 2
points behind leader of the tournament among women.

Armenia To Present City Of Peace Under The Slogan "Thought And Time"

ARMENIA TO PRESENT CITY OF PEACE UNDER THE SLOGAN "THOUGHT AND TIME" AT SHANGHAI EXPO 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2010 19:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia will present the City of Peace under the
slogan "Thought and Time" at Shanghai Expo 2010, Robert Harutyunyan
Director General of Armenian Development Agency told a press conference
in Yerevan.

"The idea of the concept is to present the Armenian architectural
thought and its footprint in the world. Unfortunately, in many cases
time destroys these architectural monuments, we will try to show how
in future a City of Peace will exist uniting the peoples," he said.

The exhibition organizers have already recognized the Armenian
concept as very interesting and the country has obtained the right
to dynamically change its pavilion during the exhibition.

On-line version of the Armenian pavilion has already been developed,
which will be available within six months throughout the whole
exhibition: between May 1 and October 31, 2010. Visitors will have
the opportunity to monitor on-line what is happening in the pavilion.

During the exhibition, every country organizes its National Day and
Armenia will also highlight its culture and traditions on its National
Day, September 21.

According to Robert Harutyunyan, "Shanghai Expo 2010 is unprecedented
exhibition, since it involves not individual organizations, but
countries. This year about 200 countries and about 100 million visitors
are expected to take part. The countries will show their concepts
of the city of the future. The theme of Expo 2010 is "Better City,
Better Life ", representing the common wish of the whole humankind
for a better living in future urban environments.

The government of Armenia on July 2, 2009 approved an action plan for
Armenia’s participation in the World Exhibition Shanghai Expo – 2010.

AMD 569 million will be allocated for country’s participation,
including the cost of design and maintenance of the exhibition hall,
the staff, the materials and souvenirs, cargo delivery.

BAKU: Iranian Ambassador Mahammad Bagir Bahrami: "Iran Is Ready To S

IRANIAN AMBASSADOR MAHAMMAD BAGIR BAHRAMI: "IRAN IS READY TO SOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT"

APA
March 16 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Suleyman Farzaliyev – APA. "If Azerbaijan and Armenia agree,
Iran is ready to solve Karabakh conflict," Iranian ambassador to
Azerbaijan Mahammad Bagir Bahrami said, APA reports quoting Mehr.

He said that Iran had stated beforehand that it was ready to solve
some conflicts in the region.

"Azerbaijan and Armenia appreciated Iran’s influence in the region and
world. We believe that Iran will achieve peaceful solution to Karabakh
conflict. Some work has started for the solution to the conflict,"
he said.

Alexander Iskandaryan: Armenian-Turkish Process Deadlocked

ALEXANDER ISKANDARYAN: ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROCESS DEADLOCKED
Siranush Muradyan

"Radiolur"
15.03.2010 18:49

There is a crisis in the Turkish parliament connected with the
ratification of the protocols, political scientist Alexander
Iskandaryan told a press conference today.

"Certainly, the ratification of the protocols cannot be ruled out,
but the possibility is two small. I was in Turkey, and all politicians
there say that the process is dead," Iskandaryan said.

Iskandaryan further clarifies that the Turks do not mean the process
is dead. They mean the process will be suspended by April 24, because
April 24 is a red line for Turkey. The pressure on Turkey is huge,
but there are few tools to make this pressure real, the political
scientist said.

Alexander Iskandaryan predicts the US President will not utter the word
‘genocide’ in his annual April 24th address.

DigiTec On Wheels Exhibition Delayed Indefinitely

DIGITEC ON WHEELS EXHIBITION DELAYED INDEFINITELY

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2010 16:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ DigiTec on wheels exhibition, scheduled for March
3, was delayed indefinitely, UITE chairman Karen Vardanyan told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

"We found out that the demand for internet technologies is still low
in Armenian regions and has yet to be increased. This is the reason
why only a few companies sought to participate in the exhibition,"
he noted.

"Lack of competition in Armenia’s ICT market might be another reason
behind it. Given low number of sponsors, we tried to organize the
exhibition with the Union’s means, yet our resources turned out
insufficient," UITE chairman explained.

The pilot part of DigiTec on Wheels was held between December 21 and
25, 2009 in several cities of Armenia. The exhibition aimed to promote
the development and dissemination of information and communication
technologies in the regions of Armenia, as well as ICT education.

BAKU: Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Considers Mediator’s War Comments

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTRY CONSIDERS MEDIATOR’S WAR COMMENTS

news.az
March 15 2010
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry The Foreign Ministry is looking into
reported comments by a European mediator that Azerbaijan would not
win a war with Armenia.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry is investigating the statements
made by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair from France, Bernard Fassier,
in Yerevan and will declare Azerbaijan’s position, Foreign Ministry
Elkhan Polukhov said on Saturday.

Armenian news agencies reported Fassier as telling a NATO seminar in
Yerevan on Friday that, ‘Azerbaijan’s victory in the event of renewed
war is impossible, because I know about the bravery of Armenian and
Karabakh warriors.’

This seems to be Armenian fiction, Elkhan Polukhov said.

‘If such serious statements are made by one of the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs, they should be explained,’ he concluded.

Fassier went on to say at the seminar, ‘People must understand that
neighbours are destined to live next to each other.’ He said that
the use of force and resumption of war would not solve the Karabakh
conflict.

How trees are restoring hope to Armenia .

National Geographic – NatGeo News Watch
March 13 2010

How trees are restoring hope to Armenia

Posted on March 13, 2010

Armenia has learned the hard way what it means for a country to lose
its forests–and the huge backbreaking effort required to replant
them. But in its struggle and determination to restore its trees,
Armenia is an inspiration for the rest of the planet.

The endeavor to bring trees back to Armenia–a Massachusetts-size
nation on the borders of Iran and Turkey–is thanks mostly to an
initiative called the Armenia Tree Project, a program supported by the
international conservation charity WWF and BMU/KfW, the German
Development Bank.

The Armenia Tree Project has been raising and planting trees
throughout the country for almost 16 years. Last year one million
trees were planted, a record that brings the total of trees planted
over the life of the project to about 3.5 million.

Picture courtesy of Armenia Tree Project

A million plantings is perhaps a tiny portion of the hundreds of
millions of trees that were lost during the great deforestation of
Armenia of the last century–but think about it: A million trees
required a million individual efforts, holes dug, backs bent, tender
hands placing seedlings in the soil, careful nurturing of saplings to
raise them to productivity.

All of this is done by individuals determined that their trees will
become forests that will sustain livelihoods and restore a vibrant
environment to Armenia.

What happened to Armenia and its trees, and what’s being done to
reverse the devastation of its forests? Nat Geo News Watch interviewed
Jason Sohigian, deputy director of the Armenia Tree Project, when he
recently visited Washington, D.C.

Watch this 16-minute documentary (commissioned by the Armenia Tree
Project) for the background to the crisis that led to the destruction
of the country’s forests, what will happen if the nation can’t reverse
the loss of its trees, and how ordinary people are pulling together to
reinvent Armenia and its future through restoring its trees.

Armenia Tree Project video

Lack of alternate fuel sources caused the loss of Armenia’s forests,
Sohigian said in the interview with Nat Geo News Watch, especially
during the years after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991,
when people had no other way to keep warm than to cut down trees for
fuel.

Ideally, forest should cover 25 percent of Armenia, Sohigian said. But
now, even after a big replanting effort, the country’s tree cover is
in the range of only 7 or 8 percent.

Where the trees have been cut, the land is often degraded and
desertification has set in as topsoil washes away.

To make matters worse, the changing global climate threatens the last
fragments of forest, especially if rainfall declines.

"One of our goals is to try to tip the balance back to where forests
can regenerate naturally, which we can do provided we don’t continue
to lose trees," Sohigian said.

Picture courtesy of Armenia Tree Project

"We’re trying to get young people involved in investing in Armenia’s
future," Sohigian said. "This program is also a way for Armenians
outside the country to build the future of Armenia, especially this
year, the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide [1915-1917]. We
encourage Armenians–and others–to support us with the future of the
country in mind. It’s why we’re calling this initiative ‘Trees of
Hope.’"

Trees of Hope is one way to get involved, by sponsoring the program to
plant trees. Another way is to support the Armenia Tree Project’s
focus on education.

"Education is a big focus for us this year," Sohigian said. "We’re
working with teachers to educate children about the environment, and
we’ve partnered with the Yale University Global Institute of
Sustainable Forestry to provide sustainable forestry training for
adults.

"By asking the worldwide Armenian community to sponsor these
activities, we’re telling them to put their roots back into Armenia in
a tangible form. It helps Armenians everywhere create an emotional and
physical connection to their ancestral country."

Picture courtesy of Armenia Tree Project

The Armenia Tree Project works to afforest Armenia with natural
forests, planting a mixture of native trees that should in time expand
and regenerate forests naturally. "We are really trying to recreate
natural forests, rather than plantations for harvesting," Sohigian
said. The partnership with Yale is focused on training foresters to
plant, maintain and harvest such "natural" forests sustainably. Part
of the training initiative is the production of a sustainable forestry
manual.

"We are bringing the best practices in international forestry to
Armenia," Sohigian said. "The next step is to organize engagement
meetings with the people who live in or near the forests to teach and
encourage them to maximize their efforts to protect the forests around
them."

A more lofty goal is to win national protection for forests as
wilderness sanctuaries, particularly where charismatic animals such as
the Persian leopard live.

Fruit and nut trees are also provided by the Armenia Tree Project to
people in urban areas, so that individuals may plant trees on the
streets or in their yards. This provides food to eat and trade as well
as a more pleasant, landscaped environment.

An example of how Armenia’s urban areas have become green again is
this school, in pictures made ten years apart.

Picture courtesy of Armenia Tree Project

The massive tree planting program has also stimulated employment for
Armenians, from the cultivation of seedlings to planting to protection
of the nascent forests.

In many ways the effort to restore trees to Armenia is a restoration
of the nation’s vitality.

Learn more and find out how you can support this intiative on the
Armenia Tree Project Web site.

ews/chiefeditor/2010/03/trees-restore-hope-to-arme nia.html

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/n

ANCA Welcomes Swedish Parliament’s Adoption Of Resolution Recognizin

ANCA WELCOMES SWEDISH PARLIAMENT’S ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDES

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.03.2010 11:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ ANCA welcomes Swedish Parliament’s adoption of
resolution recognizing Armenian, Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean and Pontic
Greek genocides. Over strident opposition from the Turkish Government,
the Swedish Parliament, today, adopted a resolution recognizing the
murder and annihilation of the Armenian, Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean
and Pontic Greek populations by the Ottoman Turkish Government as
"genocide," reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA.)

"Twice in just one week, we have seen legislative bodies – the
House Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States and the full
Parliament in Sweden – take a strong stand against Turkey’s threats
against an honest affirmation of the Armenian Genocide," said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We congratulate the Swedish
Parliamentarians – particularly those who defied party politics and
foreign intimidation – to send a clear message that genocide must be
condemned whenever and wherever it occurs."

The Swedish Parliament adopted the resolution, Motion 2008/09:U332,
by a vote of 131 to 130, overcoming an earlier Foreign Affairs
Committee decision voting down the measure. In addition to recognizing
the Armenian, Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean and Pontic Greek genocides,
the motion also calls on Swedish authorities to work with the United
Nations, European Union and Turkey to secure international affirmation
of this crime against humanity.

European Human Rights Court Fines Armenian Government

EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS COURT FINES ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT

Tert.am
16:44 ~U 11.03.10

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that in the cases of
Karapetyan vs. Armenia, Stepanyan vs. Armenia, and Khachatryan vs.

Armenia, the Government of the Republic of Armenia must pay 7,500 EUR,
2,200 EUR and 1,745 EUR, respectively, to the plaintiffs.

During today’s RA government session, the Armenian government ruled
to pay these amounts from its reserves fund for the RA Ministry
of Justice.